In my view, one of the myths the West is scared by is that Russia is a mirror image, sort of image that we don't want to become, because when we stand for internationalism and integration, allegedly we see Russia stands for strict state sovereignty, nationalism and a different view to addressing questions surrounding minorities. Of course, this is a complete simplification, because there is a strong internationalist dimension in Russia's foreign policy as well. You could say the elements of internationalist foreign policy are more instrumentally applied than genuinely applied, but that's the case of the United States as well. The US and China both are selective practitioners of multilateralism, there is nothing special there. Rather, this is probably reinforced by a long-term obsession in the West with viewing Russia as an enigma.

Today, the US is less committed to maintaining the liberal international order and is more interested in zero-sum rivalry to prioritize its own narrow interests over a global governance agenda. You see the US emphasizing its own sovereignty and the Trump administration has already withdrawn from several international agreements. Non-great powers in the European Union and Canada started to reflect on where their place actually lies within this world of sovereignties increasingly reasserting themselves. This might actually represent a very interesting opportunity to discuss the future relations the EU and Canada will have with Russia, as all of these countries together are sharing an interest in avoiding a new cold war or increasing bipolarity between the US and China. Canada doesn't want rigid blocs: we want an open, rules-based trading system. Canada is heavily dependent on international trade. We need FDI because our population is too small to extract the resources that we have in our own borders, so we are internationalist and in favor of many centers of power by necessity. Russia is for political reasons also interested in maintaining its own independent great power status, related to its domestic political identity as well as to avoid bipolarity. I think a central question will concern whether countries like Canada, Russia and European countries will be able to put aside their existing differences and disputes and to see what they have in common in terms of establishing a global order that secures our shared interest in polycentrism, a rules-based framework and open international trade. An in this context, what future are sovereign states are going to play, versus blocs? Every single country needs to tackle this question in one way or another.